Personal Grants

While many are looking for personal grants, they may already qualify for benefits for personal assistance. Money for personal assistance are similar to grants, but they are actually benefits. There is a range of grants or benefits for personal assistance.

To apply for personal assistance, a person can visit Benefits.gov or talk to the benefits office in their local community. There is usually an application process, but it is designed only to determine identity and eligibility. The following list is a selection of benefits available:

Cash Assistance or Public Welfare: This program has the name Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), which is monthly cash assistance that is time limited. Each state has its own guidelines for how long a citizen or family can receive assistance.

Eligibility is primarily based on total family income.

Disaster Relief: Individuals and families affected by a federally recognized disaster are entitled to cash assistance and crisis counseling. There is also relief to farmers who have lost crops during a natural disaster.

Food Assistance: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides monthly cash assistance that can only be used to purchase food and nutrition items. This program serves about $40 million people including the working poor. The Women, Infants, Children (WIC) program provides food and nutrition such as baby formal to women and children under the age of 5 years of age. There is also a federal School Lunch program so that low-incomes students can eat during the school day.

Healthcare Assistance: There are programs for low-income people without health insurance called Medicaid to access free medical care. There are additional benefits programs to pay for medications and treatments for low-income people with certain disabling medical conditions such as kidney failure, asthma, HIV/AIDS, mental health conditions, and more.

Tax Relief: There are a select number of programs for tax relief such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

Unemployment and Disability: For people who were in the workforce and were laid off or disabled, there is unemployment compensation and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). There are also monthly cash benefits for those with a disabling condition that makes it impossible to work through Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

Veterans Benefits: Veterans on active duty or honorable discharge are entitled to a range of benefits including health care, housing, education, and more.

This list is only a selection of benefits or grants for personal assistance. Benefits.gov and state government web sites list all of the available assistance for personal need.